Offending a devotee is most dangerous! 🚸

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Krishna

Offending a Devotee is Most Dangerous

21 May 2025

Srila Prabhupada has written in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, Fourth Canto, Chapter 23, Text 37 as follows:
Pṛthu Mahārāja has explained in the previous verse the importance of devotional service for both the rulers and the citizens of the state. Now he explains how one can be steadily fixed in devotional service. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, while instructing Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, has compared the devotional service of the Lord with a creeper. A creeper has a feeble stem and requires the support of another tree to grow, and while growing, it requires sufficient protection so that it may not be lost. While describing the system of protection for the creeper of devotional service, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has especially stressed protection from offenses unto the lotus feet of Vaiṣṇavas. Such offenses are called vaiṣṇava-aparādha. Aparādha means "offense." If one commits vaiṣṇava-aparādhas, all of his progress in devotional service will be checked. Even though one is very much advanced in devotional service, if he commits offenses at the feet of a Vaiṣṇava, his advancement is all spoiled. In the śāstras it is found that a very great yogī, Durvāsā Muni, committed a vaiṣṇava-aparādha and thus for one full year had to travel all over the universe, even to Vaikuṇṭhaloka, to defend himself from the offense. At last, even when he approached the Supreme Personality of Godhead in Vaikuṇṭha, he was refused protection. Therefore one should be very careful about committing offenses at the feet of a Vaiṣṇava. The most grievous type of vaiṣṇava-aparādha is called gurv-aparādha, which refers to offenses at the lotus feet of the spiritual master. In the chanting of the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this gurv-aparādha is considered the most grievous offense. Guror avajñā śruti-śāstra-nindanam (Padma Purāṇa). Among the ten offenses committed against the chanting of the holy name, the first offenses are disobedience of the spiritual master and blasphemy of the Vedic literature.

Thus we must alway careful not to commit Vaisnava aparadha or guru aparadha.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari
P.S: Live classes are at: www.LiveLectures.net
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Devotional Service is Like a Creeper

Creeper

Beware of the Danger of Offending a Devotee

Danger

Always Offer Respect to Guru and Vaisnavas

Respect

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Transcendental Reply

Hare Krishna Srila Gurudev.
Please accept my humble obeisances.

How can I keep myself from becoming angry or upset when I hear someone suggest that Krishna is the same as Buddha or Jesus?

Thank you,
Dennis

Answer

From: Austin, Texas USA
My Dear Dennis,

Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

We have no problem with accepting that Lord Buddha and Lord Krishna are the same person.

Buddha is an incarnation of Krishna. This is confirmed by the great Vaisnava poet Śrīla Jayadeva Gosvāmī in his Daśāvatāra-stotra,verse 9:

nindasi yajṣa-vidher ahaha śruti-jātaṁ
sadaya-hṛdaya darśita-paśu-ghātam
keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra
jaya jagadīśa hare jaya jagadīśa hare
jaya jagadīśa hare jaya jagadīśa hare

O Keśava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari who have assumed the form of Buddha! All glories to You! Your heart filled with compassion, you decry animal slaughter performed according to the scriptural rules of Vedic sacrifice.

He appeared because people at the time were abusing the Vedic sacrifice in which animals would be rejuvenated with new bodies in sacrificial ceremonies. Their abuse was to engage in wholesale animal slaughter for the purpose of eating them in name of so-called Vedic sacrifice. Lord Buddha put a stop to this abuse of the Vedic scriptures.

We also have no problem accepting the divinity of Lord Jesus because such confidential servitors of the Lord are to be honored as much as the Lord Himself.

Lord Buddha ki jaya!
Lord Jesus Christ ki jaya!

I hope this meets you in the best of health
and in a cheerful mood.

Your ever well-wisher,
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

My Spiritual Journey in a Nutshell

As an American youth I was taught to believe in the. "American dream": Study hard, get a good education and a good job to get a good wife some good kids in a good house to enjoy a good life. But when I got to college, I realized that this was not enough. I wanted to know what the meaning of life is, but no one could tell me. So, I took to the path of self-realization and was blessed in 1968 with the Hare Krishna mantra and the worship of Radha and Krishna. (I did not know about ISKCON.) This inspired me to drop out of college and renounce the world to become a holy beggar in India. But on the way to India, I realized that to renounce everything I had to ultimately renounce renunciation itself and accept something transcendental Thus I embraced the mission of delivering the world from chaos. For this purpose, I adopted the life a singer/songwriter who in 1969 became recognized and very much appreciated. In 1971, seeking spiritual perfection, I followed the example of Lord Jesus Christ and prayed to God how I could become His perfect servant. Then God revealed to me path of pure Krishna bhakti as taught by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. On the most auspicious day of 12 August 1971, he accepted me as his disciple. Now on his order and under his most expert guidance I have fully devoted my life for awakening pure love of God within my heart and for making the entire world Krishna conscious.

To read about my journey in detail get my memoir:

Love
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